Everyone to whom I have spoken has said that iTunes and an iPod will only let you sync to one computer at a time. To me, that sounds like DRM. I'm kind of astounded that Mac fans would not recognize this. Maybe these Mac fans are too much in love with an image projected by Apple's prodigious marketing team, and are not seeing reality.
There are other open source options, such as this Oboe service from MP3tunes, which was slashdotted here by Scuttlemonkey. This service will allow you to stream and sync to any computer with the open source Oboe software package, and the download is free, although the service is not free as in beer, but costs $40.00 USD per year:
Chiggers writes to tell us that Mad Penguin has an interesting look at Oboe, the new music service from MP3Tunes. For a monthly fee Oboe allows you unlimited space to create a cross-platform music playlist available anywhere you have an internet connection via their AJAX-enabled GUI. The audio player still needs a little work but overall it is an interesting idea.
It would be cool if we could develop some type of Sourceforge or Sourceforge-type of sites to help people exchange hardware locally, so as to avoid the cost of shipping. There is already Craigs List and Freecycle, two that I can think of currently, but nothing dedicated solely to computers, like SourceForge is for software.
I mean, imagine what a SourceForge for older harware could do for schools, non-profits, etc.
Anyone who has ideas on this could email me at einfeldt at gmail dot com.
I have started a website at DIYparts.org to do just that, and would appreciate any tips as to someone else that is doing it better, so that we could either just quite DIYparts.org and join them, or improve DIYparts.org where that other site is lacking.
We are going to start offering videos for free to download to give newbies an idea how to start with GNU/Linux. The DIYparts.org site is here:
Tell your friends that you will take care of their old boxes. Bring a Mepis or Damn Small Linux CD with you and blow away their hard drive. Show them how easy it is to give a new virus-free life to that old box. If they don't want that old box after it is Mepisized, put it up for give-away on Craigslist or DIYparts.org. People have a much easier time understanding how good open source software is when they see it in action.
Taking a sledgehammer to the box might be more fun, but then that box is headed for the landfill, where the metals in it will leach into the water table. Ick.
DIYparts.org is working to help the Katrina victims, so rather than have the box go into landfill, it can go to somewhone who needs it if you list it on DIYparts.org. DIYparts.org is free as in beer.
The thing to do would be to go to the Desktop Linux site where they are organizing things, and help out. You might start by making a list of schools and other public places based on your google search where things like this might potentially be set up. Someone is going to have to create a map of potential sites, which will then go into a database so that we can track what places are available.
No, this is not the same guy as the boing boing guy. The guy who started this idea is Steve Hargadon, who has been active in LTSP for a long time. Steve is a real guy with real good intentions and good ideas.
Steve Hargadon came up with this idea. He has been active in LTSP for a long time, and has built thin-client labs all over the US. I did volunteer grunt work for him in San Francisco, and I can tell you that Steve Hargadon is a good guy.
...he does like complex solutions and is suspicious of simple, elegant solutions. He also likes getting more readers for El Reg. He is a business guy, ultimately, and his biz is bringing eyeballs to El Reg.
Andrew and I both live in SF. I met him for lunch one day at a pasta restaurant on Kearny between Bush and Pine. We talked about a film I'm producing, the Digital Tipping Point, which is a film about the free open source software's part in the cultural benefits of bringing more minds on line. My point was that bringing more minds on line means, more noise, but more quality creativity, too.
In that discussion, he panned both Lessig and Clayton Christensen, both of whom are influential in the upcoming DTP film. He doesn't like what he views as "economic determinism." He thought that the cc relies too heavily on the belief that more access to technology will create more art works of genuine value. And he thought that Harvard Biz Prof Clayton Christensen's work was too simplistic and a form of economic determinism. He actually became quite peeved at Christensen's line of thinking during our discussion. He kept insisting that both Christensen and Lessig are pushing simplistic ideas, and I kept thinking to myself that he had not spent enough time trying to understand Christensen and Lessig, and was dismissing them merely because they both are popular now.
I also kept thinking to myself that Andrew values complex ideas, and I think that he believes that as a journalist, he needs to very visibly display his independence of thought for fear of being labeled a party-line thinker.
Ultimately, it is there that Andrew makes his greatest mistake, IMHO. He's so eager to display his independence of thought that he sometimes will have a knee-jerk reaction against popular ideas, such as the cc or Christensen's theory of disruptive technologies.
So no, Andrew was not trolling with his two stories on the cc. That was the real Andrew O, IMHO. I like Andrew's writing a great deal. I think that he's often right on target, and quite funny. I also think that he is overly concerned about appearing to be an independent thinker.
So Andrew, please relax. You often write great stuff, but this rant about the cc is not one of your best pieces. Please let it drop and move on to something else.
I have heard more than one seemingly knowledgeable person wonder who left whom. Gary Edwards, who is active in the OpenOffice.org community, and who has always struck me as being quite knowledgeable, has speculated that it was IBM who refused to license the PPC6 because IBM wants to leverage Linux against Intel and Microsoft the same way that Microsoft and Intel commoditized IBM PCs and migrated the value from the whole PC to the key components, the chip and the operating system.
http://www.sauria.com/blog/2005/06/05
I have not found anything on Google or Yahoo that confirms the suggestion that it was IBM who left Apple, not the other way around. Did IBM leave Apple? Or did Apple leave IBM? Clearly, we know that Steve Jobs made a very public announcement to the effect that it is Apple which is leaving IBM, but is that just a marketing ploy? Any solid evidence would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Hi,
After reading the comments here and on the MadPenguin.org forum, I decided that the comment about Gates detracted from the article, mostly because it was too far afield from the main point of the article. My thanks to those who have spotted that passage for the defect that it was. But it was bad writing, not racism.
With regard to the comment itself, people in the open source community give code to others plus the documentation to help them implement it in their lives in a way that makes sense for them. The recipients get the code free and clear. They are in control. Gates' money will affect real positive change in the lives of some, no doubt. But his gift doesn't change what Martin Buber called the fundamental "I-thou" nature of his relationship with the recipients.
Equals share. The king gives, but remains the king, and the vassals remain vassals. That was my point.
Christian Einfeldt
Slashdot Mirror
Everyone to whom I have spoken has said that iTunes and an iPod will only let you sync to one computer at a time. To me, that sounds like DRM. I'm kind of astounded that Mac fans would not recognize this. Maybe these Mac fans are too much in love with an image projected by Apple's prodigious marketing team, and are not seeing reality.
3 4
There are other open source options, such as this Oboe service from MP3tunes, which was slashdotted here by Scuttlemonkey. This service will allow you to stream and sync to any computer with the open source Oboe software package, and the download is free, although the service is not free as in beer, but costs $40.00 USD per year:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/16432
Chiggers writes to tell us that Mad Penguin has an interesting look at Oboe, the new music service from MP3Tunes. For a monthly fee Oboe allows you unlimited space to create a cross-platform music playlist available anywhere you have an internet connection via their AJAX-enabled GUI. The audio player still needs a little work but overall it is an interesting idea.
Who the hell does he think he is, Linus Torv... oh, never mind.
It would be cool if we could develop some type of Sourceforge or Sourceforge-type of sites to help people exchange hardware locally, so as to avoid the cost of shipping. There is already Craigs List and Freecycle, two that I can think of currently, but nothing dedicated solely to computers, like SourceForge is for software.
I mean, imagine what a SourceForge for older harware could do for schools, non-profits, etc.
Anyone who has ideas on this could email me at einfeldt at gmail dot com.
I have started a website at DIYparts.org to do just that, and would appreciate any tips as to someone else that is doing it better, so that we could either just quite DIYparts.org and join them, or improve DIYparts.org where that other site is lacking.
We are going to start offering videos for free to download to give newbies an idea how to start with GNU/Linux. The DIYparts.org site is here:
http://www.diyparts.org/
In Soviet Peru, foreign meddlers choose software for you.
Don't feed the troll.
Tell your friends that you will take care of their old boxes. Bring a Mepis or Damn Small Linux CD with you and blow away their hard drive. Show them how easy it is to give a new virus-free life to that old box. If they don't want that old box after it is Mepisized, put it up for give-away on Craigslist or DIYparts.org. People have a much easier time understanding how good open source software is when they see it in action.
Taking a sledgehammer to the box might be more fun, but then that box is headed for the landfill, where the metals in it will leach into the water table. Ick.
DIYparts.org is working to help the Katrina victims, so rather than have the box go into landfill, it can go to somewhone who needs it if you list it on DIYparts.org. DIYparts.org is free as in beer.
here: http://www.desktoplinux.com/cgi-bin/board/UltraBoa rd.pl?Action=ShowBoard&Board=katrina
Please don't go there just to chat. Please only go there if you think that PublicWebStations.com is a good idea and you want to support the effort to help people in the affected area get connected again with the outside world.
The thing to do would be to go to the Desktop Linux site where they are organizing things, and help out. You might start by making a list of schools and other public places based on your google search where things like this might potentially be set up. Someone is going to have to create a map of potential sites, which will then go into a database so that we can track what places are available.
a rd.pl?Action=ShowBoard&Board=katrina
http://www.desktoplinux.com/cgi-bin/board/UltraBo
No, this is not the same guy as the boing boing guy. The guy who started this idea is Steve Hargadon, who has been active in LTSP for a long time. Steve is a real guy with real good intentions and good ideas.
Steve Hargadon came up with this idea. He has been active in LTSP for a long time, and has built thin-client labs all over the US. I did volunteer grunt work for him in San Francisco, and I can tell you that Steve Hargadon is a good guy.
...he does like complex solutions and is suspicious of simple, elegant solutions. He also likes getting more readers for El Reg. He is a business guy, ultimately, and his biz is bringing eyeballs to El Reg.
Andrew and I both live in SF. I met him for lunch one day at a pasta restaurant on Kearny between Bush and Pine. We talked about a film I'm producing, the Digital Tipping Point, which is a film about the free open source software's part in the cultural benefits of bringing more minds on line. My point was that bringing more minds on line means, more noise, but more quality creativity, too.
In that discussion, he panned both Lessig and Clayton Christensen, both of whom are influential in the upcoming DTP film. He doesn't like what he views as "economic determinism." He thought that the cc relies too heavily on the belief that more access to technology will create more art works of genuine value. And he thought that Harvard Biz Prof Clayton Christensen's work was too simplistic and a form of economic determinism. He actually became quite peeved at Christensen's line of thinking during our discussion. He kept insisting that both Christensen and Lessig are pushing simplistic ideas, and I kept thinking to myself that he had not spent enough time trying to understand Christensen and Lessig, and was dismissing them merely because they both are popular now.
I also kept thinking to myself that Andrew values complex ideas, and I think that he believes that as a journalist, he needs to very visibly display his independence of thought for fear of being labeled a party-line thinker.
Ultimately, it is there that Andrew makes his greatest mistake, IMHO. He's so eager to display his independence of thought that he sometimes will have a knee-jerk reaction against popular ideas, such as the cc or Christensen's theory of disruptive technologies.
So no, Andrew was not trolling with his two stories on the cc. That was the real Andrew O, IMHO. I like Andrew's writing a great deal. I think that he's often right on target, and quite funny. I also think that he is overly concerned about appearing to be an independent thinker.
So Andrew, please relax. You often write great stuff, but this rant about the cc is not one of your best pieces. Please let it drop and move on to something else.
Christian Einfeldt
I have heard more than one seemingly knowledgeable person wonder who left whom. Gary Edwards, who is active in the OpenOffice.org community, and who has always struck me as being quite knowledgeable, has speculated that it was IBM who refused to license the PPC6 because IBM wants to leverage Linux against Intel and Microsoft the same way that Microsoft and Intel commoditized IBM PCs and migrated the value from the whole PC to the key components, the chip and the operating system. http://www.sauria.com/blog/2005/06/05 I have not found anything on Google or Yahoo that confirms the suggestion that it was IBM who left Apple, not the other way around. Did IBM leave Apple? Or did Apple leave IBM? Clearly, we know that Steve Jobs made a very public announcement to the effect that it is Apple which is leaving IBM, but is that just a marketing ploy? Any solid evidence would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Hi, After reading the comments here and on the MadPenguin.org forum, I decided that the comment about Gates detracted from the article, mostly because it was too far afield from the main point of the article. My thanks to those who have spotted that passage for the defect that it was. But it was bad writing, not racism. With regard to the comment itself, people in the open source community give code to others plus the documentation to help them implement it in their lives in a way that makes sense for them. The recipients get the code free and clear. They are in control. Gates' money will affect real positive change in the lives of some, no doubt. But his gift doesn't change what Martin Buber called the fundamental "I-thou" nature of his relationship with the recipients. Equals share. The king gives, but remains the king, and the vassals remain vassals. That was my point. Christian Einfeldt